Page 57 - Television Today

TV Today 43

cologne, warning, “The new Hai Karate after-shave is so
powerful it drives women right out of their minds. Be care-
ful how you use it.”
This Epic genre is a huge Put-On, an exaggeration, spo-
ken by an announcer whose tongue is planted hard in his
cheek.
Seven Seas Salad Dressing sells Caesar Salad the same
way. “Hail Caesar! Hail Caesar!” shouts the cast of Romans
in togas.
• THE MAGIC SELL. The Wizardry Sell can be
both the most inventive and the hardest to take.
Remember how “Wanda the Witch” started this sell for
Hidden Magic Hairspray?
Remember Crest’s “Decay Switch Witch” living in the
bathroom medicine cabinet?
The “Giant Hand” in the washing machine?
The Ajax White Knight?
That Wizard of a Man from Glad?
The omens of the White Tornado and the Dove flying
in the kitchen window?
Remember Manwich Sandwich for women who want
to enchant husbands and children? Remember Latex Spred
Paint for the time “when your house begins to haunt you”?
Remember the Giant Green Jolly?

If there be definition by example, these ample samples
show you something about the Magic Sell. Historically, the
Church and State tested witches to see if they were guilty or
innocent.
Today on TV the tables are turned. The witch and sor-
cerer have become the testers and endorsers of every kind of
wonderful and marvelous product. The advertising psychol-
ogy is: If we can’t prove this product through reason, you’ll
have to buy its magical results on faith alone.